Ric and Josh were staring at the puffy clouds, having a contest to see who could find the most identifiable shapes, when they suddenly heard a quiet voice beside them.
"Um, hi?"
Ric propped himself up on his elbow and saw a boy about his age with short, unkempt blond hair and blue eyes that seemed wide with terror. Ric didn't recognize him from school.
"Hi," said Ric, guardedly.
"Do you, um... live around here?"
"Just down the road. We go to Eastview Junior High."
"Oh, um... me, too, I guess."
"You guess?"
"We just, um, moved here."
"Oh," said Ric, sitting up further and giving Seth a wide, friendly smile. "I'm Ric, and this is my brother Josh."
The boy waved nervously in acknowledgement. "I'm Seth."
Ric motioned for him to sit down, which he did, a little too quickly, landing him on his back. Josh laughed and Ric was about to tell him to shut up, but Seth just grinned. "Oops."
They all laughed and Seth immediately looked more comfortable, despite his awkwardness. Soon they were chatting briskly, about school (Ewwww...), the summer, the park, and the town.
Eventually the conversation trailed off and Seth looked nervous again. "So, um... why... er, why do you have... um..." He couldn't get the question out.
Josh rolled his eyes. "We were born this way, silly." he said, offhandedly.
Ric stared at Josh, who was taking a swig from his drink, unoffended, unconcerned, seemingly unaware. Had he completely forgotten?
Seth glanced over at Mr. Mendes. "Is that... is that your dad?"
"No, that's Mr. Mendes," explained Ric. "He's a guidance counselor at school."
"The coolest counselor," added Josh.
"We're staying with him this summer because our mom had to go away to work."
"Oh..." said Seth. "Are there... a lot of... guys like you at the school?"
Josh giggled at Seth's nervousness. "Nope! We're the only ones!" he exclaimed, a note of pride in his voice.
"There you are!" a voice cried behind them. "Don't run off like that! I didn't know where you'd—" Seth's mom stopped suddenly in mid-sentence when she saw who Seth was sitting with.
"Oh..." she said. "Um... hello."
Seth rolled his eyes. "Mom, this is Ric and Josh. They live here and go to the same school as me. Ric and Josh, this is my mom."
Seth's mom relaxed a bit, glad her son was finding friends, even if they were a bit... odd. "Hello," she said, uncertainly.
Suddenly Mr. Mendes strode up. Seth's mom looked up, clearly petrified.
"Hello, there," he said. "I'm Fransisco Mendes. I'm a guidance counselor at Eastview Junior High." Mr. Mendes always found this method of self-introduction useful for terrified parents.
Seth's mom mumbled an introduction. "This is my son, Seth. He'll be going to your school next year."
Mr. Mendes shook hands with Seth, who was only slightly less terrified than his mom. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, sir."
Mr. Mendes took it upon himself to break the ice, chatting in a friendly way to Seth's mom about the town and the school. Eventually they retired to a bench to sit down, leaving the boys to share the melting ice cream sandwich Seth's mom had brought him.
"Want to play?" asked Ric, standing and offering Seth a hand up.
"I'm not sure," said Seth, nervously. "You're way better than me."
Ric laughed. "Why do you say that?"
"I was... watching you earlier."
Ric was a little surprised at first, but then grinned. "Then you saw Josh playing too. If I can play with this klutz," he said, jerking a thumb at his brother while launching the ball at him with a hind foot, "I can play with anyone."
Seth laughed and Josh protested, fumbling, and soon they were kicking the ball around the field, running and galloping and laughing with abandon. Eventually, Josh tripped, so badly that none of his four legs could save him and he tumbled to the grass, bringing Seth with him. Ric dropped down beside them and they lay there, catching their breath, as Josh quickly resumed the cloud game, eager to keep ahead of Ric.
Seth just lay there as they pointed out increasingly unlikely and imaginary shapes in the clouds.
Eventually Josh got up and wandered away to get another bottle of water, leaving Seth and Ric lying quietly in the grass.
Seth suddenly sighed. "I wish I had four legs," he murmured quietly.
Ric perked up and Seth immediately turned a bright shade of red. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say..."
"Do you really?" asked Ric.
"What?" replied Seth, unprepared for Ric's response.
"Do you really wish?"
Seth was quiet for a moment, fidgeting nervously, then whispered...